Plaintiffs in UFC Antitrust lawsuit file Emergency Motion to Compel

July 1, 2017

On Friday, Plaintiffs in the Zuffa Antitrust lawsuit filed an Emergency Motion to Compel citing the UFC’s withholding of 30,000 documents due to alleged privilege. The Plaintiffs are requesting an expediting hearing on the matter for July 13, 2017 due to the pending fact discovery deadline of July 31, 2017.

The motion states that the UFC has withheld documents citing privilege which Plaintiffs deem are too broad. The parties have “met and conferred,” a requisite process in which the opposing sides are to make a good faith effort to resolve their discovery disputes. However, as likely predicted, the parties are at an impasse.

Central to the dispute is the fact that the privilege log of withheld documents provide vague descriptions from which Plaintiffs cannot assess whether it is truly a privileged document or not. Plaintiffs contend that the privilege log is not per the rules of discovery.

The Plaintiffs are requesting that the UFC produced non-privileged documents within 5 court (business) days and a revised privilege log.

Payout Perspective:
Privilege logs are a list of documents that parties provide to the other side to let them know that they are withholding the information but there is a valid reason (i.e. attorney-client privilege). Usually the key in determining if a document is privileged if its from an attorney to a client and it contains or provides legal advice. The interpretation of this meaning is used narrowly by parties seeking documents and broadly by those seeking to protect the disclosure. You can predict that the UFC will oppose this motion and will be upset due to the shorter time to respond. MMA Payout will keep you posted.